2-Year-Old Black Bear Struck By Car In Montgomery County

GERMANTOWN, Md. (WJZ) — A shocking sight for Maryland drivers Sunday morning when a young black bear darts across the highway. But the ending is not so happy.

Linh Bui reports a vehicle struck the animal.

The young black bear got halfway across 270 southbound near Father Hurley Boulevard in Germantown when it made the deadly decision to turn around.

“That’s when the bear was struck and ran into the brush behind us,” said Officer Richard Doney, Maryland Natural Resources Police.

The 70 pound bear was in bad shape, so officers had to euthanize it.

“We observed the bear for several minutes before we actually dispatched it to make sure he was incapacitated,” Doney said. “The whole back end of the bear was not moving. You could see it was damaged, so the decision was made to put it out of its misery. It was suffering.”

There have been numerous bear sightings in Montgomery County recently–including one in Gaithersburg last month. It sat in someone’s backyard and munched on bird seed for 30 minutes.

According to the Department of Natural Resources, black bear sightings are not uncommon during the summer, especially in late June and early July.

“A lot of these bears are young males. They’ve been turned away from their mothers and they’re basically moving through the area looking for food,” Doney said.